Signs Of A Gout Attack
The condition known as gout will normally take several years to form before a person starts to suffer from it. This is because the uric acid crystals need time to build up in a person’s joints and the tissue surrounding it before gout symptoms and signs begin to show.
If you have any of the following symptoms then there is a good chance you have gout:-
1. The most common form of gout starts as what is known as podagra usually. This refers to pain in the big toe joint when it is inflamed from the build up of uric acid.
2. Nighttime can often be the first time you notice the intent pain that gout can give you from even the light pressure of a bed sheet.
3. If your toe joint feels like it is on fire and that pain goes on for several hours then the chances are you have gout. The pain should start to disperse over the following 2 days although it can take as long as a week to go totally.
4. When the gout attack actually begins to subside then the person finds that the skin around the joint, which is affected, may feel itchy and starts to peel.
The above are just some of the symptoms that people with gout may have. Not everyone who suffers with the above will have gout and not every gout sufferer will suffer with all (or any) of these symptoms.
While it is usually your big toe joint that suffers the effects of gout , which of course makes walking very painful, you can also get it in any joint in your body. This includes your fingers, elbows, ankles and even your wrists.
Gout can attack after an illness or surgery, to make it even worse it can often be missed and just treated as another ache or pain from the surgery or illness. Older people seem to suffer this misdiagnose more than others.
If you or someone you know starts to have any of the symptoms we have mentioned here it is vital that they go to see a DR. While the initial pain may dissipate after a few days it will come back , and may be much worse the next time, unless they take proper medication.
Would you know if you were dealing with a a gout symptom or just normal day to day aches? When your big toe ache we don’t usually think of gout as a possible cause.